FBI digging for body in New England

[Wiseguy]

FBI digging in R.I. lot for nightclub owner’s body
Boston Globe
MARCH 30, 2016

PROVIDENCE — Nearly 23 years after a South Boston nightclub owner vanished, the FBI and Rhode Island State Police called in a backhoe, canines, and the state medical examiner’s office Wednesday during an exhaustive search for his remains behind an old mill building.

Two people familiar with the investigation said authorities received a tip that Steven A. DiSarro, 43, of Westwood, was buried on the property owned by a reputed Mafia associate who pleaded guilty this month to federal drug charges.
site near Branch Avenue and Woodward Road.

The arrival of a Rhode Island state medical examiner’s truck at the scene at about 6 p.m. fueled speculation that remains had been found, but Setera declined to comment on that development.

“Our investigation is continuing and we will be back on scene tomorrow,” Setera said Wednesday night.

Investigators had put up three tents near the massive ditch behind the mill, where a backhoe was digging.
A neighbor, who would only give his first name, Kevin, said he moved into a group home on Woodward Street several years ago, and the area is generally quiet.

“Not really any problems as far as I know,” he said.

WPRI-TV in Providence first reported the search, which began early Wednesday morning behind a converted mill building owned by William Ricci, who pleaded guilty to allowing his property to be used for a large scale marijuana growing operation.

Notorious gangster Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi told federal and state authorities in 2003 that he walked in on the murder of DiSarro on May 10, 1993, at the Sharon, Mass., home of former New England Mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, according to a US Drug Enforcement Administration report filed in federal court in Boston.

Flemmi claimed that Salemme and two other men were watching as Salemme’s son, Frank, strangled DiSarro, the manager of the now defunct Channel nightclub. Flemmi claimed he quickly left the house, but later the elder Salemme confided that he had helped his son dispose of DiSarro’s body at a Rhode Island construction site, according to the report.

Flemmi told authorities that Salemme also told him that Rhode Island mobster Robert DeLuca “was present during the burial” of DiSarro, according to the report. An FBI affidavit filed in support of Ricci’s arrest last year described him as a longstanding Mafia associate who was close to DeLuca.

Salemme’s son died of lymphoma in 1995. By the time Flemmi implicated the elder Salemme in DiSarro’s slaying, the ex-Mafia don was already in the Federal Witness Protection Program after cooperating against South Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger and his corrupt FBI handler, John J. Connolly Jr.

In 2008, Francis Salemme was sentenced to five years in prison for lying and obstruction of justice for denying any knowledge about DiSarro’s murder during plea negotiations in 1999 that resolved a prior racketeering indictment against him.

Salemme denied the allegation that he watched his son strangle DiSarro, then helped dispose of his body.

Steven Boozang, an attorney for Salemme, declined to comment on the search for DiSarro’s remains or whether Salemme, 82, remains in the witness protection program.

Boozang called Flemmi “a pathological liar” and said that Salemme has “moved on with his life and has had no involvement with the criminal justice system for well over 20 years.”

DeLuca and Ricci were close associates, according to an FBI affidavit filed in support of Ricci’s arrest last year in the Rhode Island drug case.

Retired Massachusetts State Police Colonel Thomas Foley, who investigated DiSarro’s disappearance while spearheading the investigation of Bulger, Flemmi, and Salemme, said on Wednesday that authorities did not have enough evidence to charge Salemme or DeLuca in connection with DiSarro’s slaying -- in part because they never located DiSarro’s body.

“It was one of the murders we were looking at and trying to solve,” Foley said. “I’m glad to see that people haven’t walked away from it and that there are still people who are going to be held accountable.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/ ... story.html

[tmarotta]

This development makes one wonder whether Ricci cut a deal in order to get a reduction in his sentence or if Deluca gave this up in his debriefing. It seemed kind of weird that Deluca flipped several years ago and yet nothing has really come out of his cooperation other than the recordings he made during the investigation of those strip clubs in Providence. Maybe the murder of DiSarro and the possibility of Deluca being prosecuted for the murder may have been what made Deluca flip. Pure speculation on my part but it sounds plausible I think.

[Pogo The Clown]

I wonder if this could lead to problems for Salemme (and maybe even DeLuca) for holding out when he flipped.


Pogo

[Wiseguy]

Human remains recovered from mob dig site in Providence
By Tim White
March 31, 2016

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – The FBI says its agents have recovered human remains from behind a mill building where the victim of a mob slaying is believed to have been buried 23 years ago.

“Earlier this afternoon, the FBI Boston Division’s Evidence Response Team, with assistance from the Providence Police Department and Rhode Island State Police recovered human remains buried in the back of the property at 715 Branch Avenue, Providence, RI,” Special Agent in Charge Harold Shaw said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

“The remains were turned over to the Rhode Island Office of the State Medical Examiners for testing and DNA analysis,” he said.

Shaw said FBI officials will remain on scene until they have “completed processing the location where the remains were located.”

It is unclear yet if the remains are those of Boston businessman Steven DiSarro, who is believed to have been murdered by the mob in 1993.

Investigators have been digging behind the mill buildings at 715 and 725 Branch Ave. since Tuesday. Agents have been searching there for the remains of Steven DiSarro, of Westwood, Mass., who went missing and was allegedly killed by the mob in 1993.

Both 715 and 725 Branch Ave. are both owned by William Ricci who has been identified by federal prosecutors as a mob associate.

A Target 12 review of records from Providence City Hall reveal 725 Branch Ave. was purchased by Ricci’s family the year before DiSarro vanished.

The Branch Avenue mill building was bought by “RSS Realty Trust, Inc.” on Dec. 1, 1992, according to deed records. The president of the company – which is now called Branch Realty, Inc. – is listed as William Ricci. He was recently snared in a federal drug case and has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.

Since 1992, when the Ricci family purchased the property from a textile company that went into receivership, they have owned the building under three different corporation names.

Various members of the Ricci family have been listed as presidents of RSS Realty Trust throughout the years, according to the paperwork. They changed the name of the company in 1999.

In Providence federal court filings, prosecutors identified Ricci as a mob associate with close ties to former Patriarca crime family capo regime Robert “Bobby” DeLuca. Investigators have said DeLuca had strong ties to another former boss, Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme.

Salemme was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2004 for obstruction of justice over the gangland slaying of DiSarro. Salemme and his son had an interest in a South Boston nightclub, “The Channel,” which DiSarro managed.

In the 2004 indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Boston wrote: “Salemme also assisted in burying Steven DiSarro’s body to prevent its discovery.”

A 2003 U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency report said FBI informant Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi claimed DeLuca was also present at the burial of DiSarro.

Salemme eventually pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice charges and was given a five-year sentence. He denied taking part in DiSarro’s murder.

His attorney, Steven Boozang, declined to comment when reached by phone.

In August Ricci was charged in a federal drug case, accused of taking part in a scheme to grow marijuana inside the mill building at 725 Branch Ave. He eventually cut a deal with prosecutors and had two of three counts dismissed in exchange for pleading guilty.

Ricci will be sentenced on May 26. Eight other defendants are charged in the case.

Ricci’s case has not been officially tied to the FBI dig behind his mill building. A spokesperson for the Rhode Island U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha declined comment.
Ricci’s attorney, Michael Lepizzera, also declined to comment for this story.

http://wpri.com/2016/03/31/human-remain ... rovidence/

[Eddie mush]

So if the body' the my found is the person disarro would they still need a witness ?? Or would flemmi testimony from early 2000"s be enough plus the body

[phatmatress777]

So if the body' the my found is the person disarro would they still need a witness ?? Or would flemmi testimony from early 2000"s be enough plus the body

im no lawyer but I believe if they find the body that he will be fucked... What I can't understand is why he would leave this out or his debriefing ... Like he already had the pass and he knew the consequences of lying.... Same thing with Sammy the bull I believe that he lied about being involved in the drugs and that casso told the truth about it too
Luckily the bull was so important in bringing down gotti that they told casso to fuck off and terminated his deal

[JCB1977]

This development makes one wonder whether Ricci cut a deal in order to get a reduction in his sentence or if Deluca gave this up in his debriefing. It seemed kind of weird that Deluca flipped several years ago and yet nothing has really come out of his cooperation other than the recordings he made during the investigation of those strip clubs in Providence. Maybe the murder of DiSarro and the possibility of Deluca being prosecuted for the murder may have been what made Deluca flip. Pure speculation on my part but it sounds plausible I think.

Excellent thought...very plausible.

[Lupara]

Perhaps they stumble on Hoffa's remains.